Chickasaw plum

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Chickasaw plum flowers

Chickasaw plum bark

Chickasaw plum inflorescence

Chickasaw plum leaf

Chickasaw plum habit

Chickasaw plum flowers

Chickasaw plum fruit

Chickasaw plum fruit

Chickasaw plum leaves

Chickasaw plum leaves

Chickasaw plum bark

Chickasaw plum

Chickasaw plum flowers

Chickasaw plum fruit

Chickasaw plum habit

Chickasaw plum bark

Morphology

Trunk

Ascending to erect, branched; bark grayish brown to reddish brown, eventually peeling into persistent plates or flakes; wood reddish brown, hard. Branches usually armed, thorns reddish brown to grayish brown, .4 to 2 inches, glabrous.

Twigs

Twigs reddish brown to grayish brown, rigid, glabrous; leaf scar elliptic; buds reddish brown, ovoid, .06 to .1 inch, apex acute, scales glabrous or glabrate.

Leaves

Deciduous, alternate, simple; stipules linear, .08 to .1 inch, ciliate; petiole .28 to .55 inch, sometimes with glands at summit; blade lanceolate to elliptic, .8 to 2.4 inches long, .4 to .8 inch wide, base wedge-shaped to rounded, margins finely serrate, teeth with reddish glands at apex, apex acute to acuminate, lower surface glabrous or pubescent on midrib, upper surface glabrous.

Flowers

Umbellate clusters, 2-4-flowered, borne at end of spur, usually appearing before leaves; pedicels .12 to .4 inch, glabrous. Flowers bisexual, radially symmetric, .35 to .5 inch diam.; sepals 5, ovate, .04 to .06 inch, margins ciliate, abaxial surface glabrous; petals 5, white, obovate, .12 to .28 inch; stamens 20; pistil 1; style 1, .16 to .24 inch; stigma capitate.

Fruit

Drupes, red or yellowish red, globose to ellipsoid, .4 to .8 inch wide, 1-seeded; stone reddish brown to tan, compressed-ovoid, .4 to .6 inch, surface rough or slightly pitted.

Ecology

Habitat

Sand and sandsage prairies, sandy mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies, sandy flood plains, roadsides, pastures, old fields

Distribution

Throughout Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

The fruits, which appear in June and July, are often made into jelly or preserves.

Additional Notes